Match

Match.com
“At Match.com our mission is to help people get into successful, emotionally rewarding
relationships. But that can’t happen unless there’s another relationship, another
connection, that’s built on trust, openness and mutual respect.”- Mission Statement as
noted on the Match.com web site
Company History
Electric Classifieds Inc., branded as Match.com, was founded in the San Francisco Bay
area in 1995 by Gary Kremen. Before starting Match.com Kremen had gained
experience in company development, capital procurement, and website launches during
the 1990s. Kremen developed an interest in the possibility of an online dating website
through his work with online classifieds, in which there had been numerous “personal”
ads placed. He also had extensive knowledge of the implications between intellectual
property laws and the Internet which put him in a strategic position for launching his own
website. Kremen was instrumental in authoring the original business plan for Match.com
and raising $8.8 million in funding from private investors and venture capitalists.1
In 1999 USA Interactive (now known as IAC/ InteractiveCorp) identified Match.com’s
market potential and acquired the company through their wholly-owned subsidiary
Ticketmaster Online/Citysearch for $50 million.1 InteractiveCorp’s primary means of
growth was through the acquisition of leading online e-commerce companies including
Match.com.
Match.com’s initial strategy since its inception has been to partner with the most
respected internet portals and develop a network of affiliates. Many of its partnerships
began in the mid to late 1990’s including portals such as AOL, Excite, MSN, Netscape,
and Yahoo!
After a period of high growth for Match.com and the acquisition by InteractiveCorp,
Kremen, the original CEO and founder, left Match.com to pursue other endeavors. In
late 2001 Tim Sullivan was named the new CEO of Match.com. Sullivan originally
served as the vice president of e-commerce for Ticketmaster Online/Citysearch and was
well qualified for the role. Under Sullivan’s direction, IAC Personals’ (which
encompassed Match.com, UDate.com, and Kiss.com) expanded globally and grew to
include 30 online dating sites which catered to 17 different languages! One example of
Match.com’s global expansion was the 2002 purchase of the Derby England based
internet companies UDate.com and Kiss.com for a reported $150 million.2 The
acquisition enabled InteractiveCorp to position itself in the European market and added
over 237,000 subscribers to Match.com’s existing 537,000 subscribers.
In 2001, Match.com featured roughly 1.8 million registered members. More astonishing
was that its registrations were growing by 300,000 per month! By December 2002, there
were more than 5.7 million members and 653,000 paying subscribers. Continuing into
December 2004, it was reported that there were over 15 million registered members and
roughly 1 million paying subscribers.3 The most recent information on registrations
states that there are roughly 60,000 new registrations each day and that Match.com is the
leading site in terms of registered members worldwide.4 5
Under Sullivan’s leadership,
revenues increased from $29 million to $185 million between 2000 and 2003.6 2004 was
no exception with revenue increasing 6.8% to $198 million and once again Sullivan’s
leadership was attributed as the primary driver of success.4
Although IAC Personals’ 2nd Quarter 2003 balance sheets had shown an increase in both
subscribers and revenues, these numbers largely reflected the acquisition of UDate.com,
and Kiss.com, which masked the fact that Match.com’s subscriber base had actually
decreased by 44,000 users. This was the first decline of Match.com’s subscriber base in
its history and the company attributed the decline to a cutback in marketing expenditures,
and the launch of new services earlier that year.7
During 2004 Match.com was identifying weaknesses and restructuring its approach to
making profits. In September 2004, Jim Safka was named the new CEO of Match.com
and the company began to reinvent itself. Safka had extensive experience in increasing
revenues and growing accounts of online e-commerce companies such as AT&T wireless
and E*Trade.6 As a result of the restructuring, for the 9 months ended September 30,
2005, revenue from IAC Personals grew 23.3% to $181.3 million versus $147 million for
the same time period in 2004.
A Change in Organizational Structure and Corporate Culture
When Safka was named as the new CEO his first responsibilities included assessing the
company’s objectives, processes, culture, organizational structure, and the ability to
define its position in the market place. Although, the company’s revenues were growing,
a critical disconnect was identified across many of the departments in Match.com. Safka
identified three critical “levers” which drive the revenue stream within Match.com
including: acquisition, retention, and churn. Conversion is the process whereby
registered members become paying subscribers. Retention is defined as the lifetime
value to Match.com of a subscriber but is more broadly defined as the ability to keep
members paying as subscribers. Churn is the drop off point for subscribers who cancel or
discontinue their renewal subscriptions and default back to nonpaying members. Once
Safka had identified these levers, a process was developed to increase accountability for
each department with regard to the new lever system.5
Prior to Safka being named as CEO, Match.com’s organizational structure consisted of
the following departments: Support, IT, Marketing, Visual Design, Products, Business
Development, Web Development, and Customer Support.5 Marketing, Products, and
Business development were charged with creating new services to be offered to
registered members which would increase involvement and acquisition. IT, Visual
Design, and the Developer staff were charged with the Web design.
Safka restructured the organization to create more accountability between departments
and bring focus to the three levers of revenue. Prior to his restructuring there were eight
separate departments each with a niche focus within the company. Safka combined
Marketing, Visual Design, Business Development, and the developer staff into a new
Products Department. This process left the company with four distinct entities including
Support, IT, Products, and Customer Support. One new functional area was created
through this process that operated within Products. This area was called the New
Products Team and was charged with identifying and implementing new services. The
Products Department was now solely accountable for the three levers that drove the
company’s revenue stream.
The new organizational structure enabled several project teams, pulled from the Products
Department to focus on the creation and implementation of innovative ideas that would
enhance the Match.com experience. Executive Management would set launch-to-market
deadlines and conducted weekly follow-up meetings with individual teams to evaluate
their performance. Statistical correlations, called metrics, were developed to measure
success and failure rates for new products based on their affects on the three leavers. The
ultimate goal was to identify new services that increased conversion and retention while
reducing churn.
Conversion, Retention, and Churn
The initial phase of growth for Match.com was to grow the registered member database
through extensive affiliate programs and partnerships including portals such as AOL,
MSN, and Yahoo. This initiative was widely regarded as a success in branding the
Match.com name and acquiring members. Meanwhile, executives at Match.com came to
the realization that profit margins were diminishing! While the primary emphasis had
been placed on the three levers, profitability had not been addressed. Match.com found
that only 8% of its registered members were paying subscribers, at any one time. 8
Research into the problem of low subscriptions showed that it was new registrants, who
were enthusiastic about the services being offered, were largely the only ones who were
willing to pay. Looking back through the data, the Products Department identified a trend
in which many previous subscribers had little or no activity on their accounts. It was
determined that people in this situation would eventually stop subscribing or abandon
Match.com altogether. Something had to be done.
To address the problem of churn as stated above, the Products Department decided to test
an e-mail campaign which was intended to capture the “skimmers” who were losing
interest and get them involved again.8 First, the project team realized that Match.com’s
services were purchased as an impulse buy. The challenge was to figure out a more
sustainable way to entice the user to become interested in the services offered. The
project team’s focus was to make the subscription process more interactive, almost like a
game. They created an ingenious method of enticing registered members to becoming
subscribers by utilizing an animated character named, “Margo” that interacted with the
user while they filled out the subscription form. The cartoon character encouraged the
user to continue filling out the form, assuring them that every security measure would be
used to protect their privacy. The campaign resulted as being one of the most successful
means of subscription conversions for the company. The e-mail had an open rate of 12%,
and of those who opened it, 52% had completed the form.8
While increasing conversion rates was important, there was also pressure to maintain
costs, specifically the Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA). To achieve this goal, the company
worked with MIVA consultants. MIVA’s expertise was in its ability to find under-
performing terms and reallocate the budget to those terms which create a higher ROI.
The strategy realized a 9% increase in conversions while beating CPA expectations by
8%.9
Although the Margo campaign and MIVA were regarded as successes, the Product team
understood that it had much more to do to continue increasing the revenue stream. As the
benchmark company in the online dating industry, there was the realization that its portal
partners were also becoming its competitors. Niche online dating companies were also
becoming a threat to their revenue stream.
Competitive Market Forces
eHarmony
In 2000, five years after Match.com’s inception, eHarmony was founded by Dr. Neil
Clark Warren. Before creating eHarmony.com, Dr. Warren, an evangelical Christian,
worked for 35 years as a psychologist specializing in counseling married couples. He
also authored two books, “Finding the Love of Your Life” and “Date…or Soul Mate?”,
the former selling almost 1,000,000 copies.10
After over 30 years of counseling married couples and research into marital problems, he
came to one solid conclusion. In his biography on eHarmony’s website he states, "In
almost every case, these were two persons who should never have married each other!
They really didn't belong together. They thought they did, but they were not well
matched." From there, he identified 29 dimensions that he found were consistently
present in successful marriages. Dr. Warren found online dating as an opportunity to take
his match-making theories to a new level.
eHarmony’s competitive advantage is that it establishes its credibility by using a
scientifically developed questionnaire based on Dr. Warren’s 29 dimensions. The
questionnaire does not just ask for personal hobbies and interests to be superficially
compared to other profiles, but measures the user by the 29 dimensions model that Dr.
Warren has developed, which matches people up by deeper criteria than simply their
hobbies and interests. eHarmony is the most expensive online dating service in the
industry, requiring a minimum investment of $49.95. eHarmony’s users are willing to
pay this price because of the credible method of match-making. The website currently
has 7 million registered members and acquires 15,000 new users a day. 11 In the past year
alone eHarmony's customer base has grown by 41%. When this figure is compared to
Match.com, which only increased by 2%, eHarmony is seen as an increasingly
threatening competitor.
Yahoo! Personals
When Match.com was founded in 1995, Match.com and Yahoo!Personals were partnered
together. However, in 1997 Yahoo.com broke away from a partnership with Match and
began offering an online dating service that mimicked Match.com. From 1997 on,
Match.com and Yahoo!Personals have been the top competitors in the online dating
market and have been more or less competing neck to neck. In 2004, Yahoo!Personals
had the leading market share in online dating sites at 18.23% while Match.com was at
12.48%.
Yahoo!Personals offers an advantage over Match.com with a price of $16.66 per month,
the cheapest in the industry.12 Success of this product has been limited however, for
three primary reasons. First, while Match.com is available through multiple portals,
Yahoo is limited to just one. Second, while Match.com has established a brand for online
dating, the name Yahoo is known as a web portal and search engine. Third,
Yahoo!Personals offers a similar service as Match, but it fails to utilize the technology of
matchmaking to the extent that Match does because of its limited selection of profiles.
Friendster and other social networking web sites
A social networking web site is a different environment than the online dating sites, but
still constitutes a competitive force against Match.com because both sites exist to connect
people through the internet. Friendster, the leading social networking site, was founded
in 2002 by entrepreneur Jonathan Abrams.13 Though Friendster is not branded as a
dating site, it is still considered to have 8.26% market share in the online dating market,
which means they are third behind Yahoo!Personals and Match.com.14 According to
Hoovers Online, Friendster has 16 million registered members. The appeal of these sites
is a casual environment for meeting people through the internet. Users do not have to fill
out a lengthy questionnaire to determine who would be the most compatible match for
them, but rather they set up their own profiles, and create their own online community by
tagging other users as their friends. Social network sites receive advertisement revenue
and do not charge a subscription. These sites are an alternative to Match.com and many
people may prefer them for the purposes of dating. Despite this untapped segment of the
online dating market, Match.com would alienate its current segment, users with the sole
goal of finding dates, by trying to penetrate into the social networking realm.
Niche sites
Niche dating sites have exploded across the internet and are strong competing forces in
the industry. In just the last year over 100 dating sites entered the market. No single
brand threatens Match.com's market share directly, but the combined share these smaller
sites have been acquiring is of concern. JDate.com, a dating site targeted towards those of
the Jewish faith, is the most popular among the niche dating site market. Launched in
1997, it now has 600,000 members and charges $34.95 monthly for a subscription.15
Business Model
Building an affiliate network 16
Match.com’s affiliate program consists of thousands of independent internet websites that
help brand the Match.com name in several niche markets that it not otherwise target.
Many of these highly specialized websites would provide a link, or an advertisement
offering Match.com’s services. The affiliate program is regarded as a critical component
of Match.com's marketing strategy. Many of these affiliates serve localized markets in
cities all across the world. The affiliate websites help serve highly specialized markets
such as sports enthusiasts, singles groups, alternative lifestyles, classifieds, and support
groups.
The affiliates receive a two tiered commission package which guarantees a 75%
commission on all new subscription revenue. A 25% bonus commission is included for
the affiliates that generate 30 or more subscriptions in any calendar month. Thus the
affiliates have the ability to gain 100% commissions.
Affiliate commissions (Match.com only)
Subscription 75% Commission 100% Commission
1-month / $29.99 $22.49 $29.99
3-month / $50.07 $37.55 $50.07
6-month / $77.94 $58.46 $77.94
Building a portal partnership network
Match.com partners with some of the most trusted and stable portals on the Internet. The
partnership strategy is to create a mutually beneficial situation for both Match.com and
the company that it partners with. Notable partners include MSN, AOL, and Yahoo. It
also partners with specialized websites such as Oh!, Oxygen, BET Interactive, InfoSpace,
and MarsVenus.com. Match.com also partnered with Comcast, the largest digital cable/
DSL provider in the United State.
Services offered through Match.com’s partner websites
Although Match.com’s prior business model emphasized a largely undefined and
heterogeneous market, their product team has identified many niche markets with more
specific needs and expectations. The product team recognized that the more sophisticated
markets would be more likely to convert into paying subscribers but only if the right
service was offered to them. Match.com wanted to tap into those markets so they
launched many different online dating websites in an attempt to better serve the online
dating market.
Chemistry.com is currently being test marketed in Denver, San Diego, Seattle and
Washington DC, and is set to launch nationally in early 2006. Chemistry.com will
enhance the online dating experience by focusing on the market that seeks a serious
relationship, and even marriage. The Match.com project team, in collaboration with a
world renowned biological anthropologist, developed an algorithm that would search and
match member profiles based on the answers they provided on the personality
assessment. The personality assessment takes about 20 minutes to fill out, and asks
numerous questions, about one’s personal interests. After a match is made, the two
compatible members would then follow a patented process called 1-2-3-Meet™, to
finally meet in a private real world setting. 17
Udate.com, based in Derby, England, is targeted towards people who are returning to the
dating scene after the end of a previous serious relationship. It is focused more on those
people who are looking for fun and friendship online. Hitwise, a leading industry analyst,
has confirmed that Udate.com is the leading online dating service in England,
commanding 13.92% of the online dating market.18 Udate.com also operates another
online dating site called Kiss.com which targets the 35-45 year old demographic.
Kiss.com claims that 5,000 new registered members sign up each day. Udate.com and
Kiss.com share the same registered member database.
OneandOnly.com is touted as one of the original online dating websites. Since it’s
inception in 1997, OneandOnly.com has developed a large registered member database.
This online dating website caters to the casual dater who is returning to the dating scene.
OneandOnly.com allows for the registered member to state in their profile whether they
are bi-sexual or even bi-curious, which many other online dating websites do not offer.19
AltMatch.com, caters to the alternative lifestyle demographic, and is regarded as a niche
online dating site. AltMatch.com’s theme is considered more adventuresome and fun
seeking as opposed to the desire to seek a meaningful relationship. As a consequence of
IAC/ InteractiveCorp focusing most of its resources on Match.com and Chemistry.com,
OneandOnly.com has seen its registered memberships gradually decrease, and there is
some discussion as to whether AltMatch.com fits in the business model.19
Currently, Personals.com serves as a website that rates the other online dating partner
websites. It gives a brief description of each online dating service’s features, subscription
prices, and the types of members that visit the site, as well as providing a brief synopsis
of the general theme of each respective site. Links to each of the websites are provided
for added convenience. There has been some discussion by the Match.com teams as to
how Personals.com fits in the current business model. Many ideas have been suggested,
but none have been implemented yet. Personals.com is being touted as the next
innovative product that will be launched into the online dating market in the near future.
Match.com's vision is that it will target a different segment of the market that is currently
being underserved.
Match.com also draws on its parent company’s other web sites to add value to its
services. Web sites such as; Citysearch, Hotels.com, TravelNow.com, Ticketmaster, and
Gifts.com serve as complementary services to what is already offered to Match.com’s
registered members.
Subscription Service Fees (Partner websites)
Service 1 Month 3 months 6 Months
Match.com $29.99 $50.97 $77.94
Udate.com $24.95 $49.95 $74.94
Kiss.com $24.95 $49.95 $74.94
Chemistry.com Beta Testing Beta Testing Beta Testing
OneandOnly.com $24.95 $54.95 $99.95
AltMatch.com $14.95 $29.95 -
Subscriber Benefits (Match.com only)
Ways to connect Subscribers Registered Members
Contact other singles! •
Send email messages •
Respond to email messages •
Remove members from •
view
See who's viewed you •
One click search by type •
Search for matches • •
Create a profile • •
Post a photo • •
Send / Receive winks • •
Value Proposition20
The Match.com strategy is two fold. The original and primary strategy has been to create
a catch-all website maintaining the highest number of users to offer the broadest selection
of dating profiles available and in doing so to partner with portals such as AOL, MSN,
and until recently Yahoo. The second strategy has been to offer a product line extension
of new websites that tailor to specific groups of people such as AltMatch.com, Kiss.com,
and Chemistry.com to continue growth of the industry and widen the user groups. As
Match.com’s Eddie Dombrower explained in an interview, “everyone is looking for love
. . . this product is for everyone”.
Being first to market has really given Match.com a leg up on the competition. Their
name is almost synonymous with online dating and their user base has always been the
leader in terms of size, due to their lead time. By partnering with large reputable internet
portals they interface directly with potential customers and gain credibility for being a
market leader. These two competitive advantages make Match.com a leading force in the
industry that will not be easy to overcome.
One long term issue that has cropped with regard to Microsoft and MSN in particular is
quality control. Match.com is less concerned with organization and consistency of the
website than Microsoft is with many of its products. One scenario might be a buyout of
the database by Microsoft so that they might integrate it into their MSN Instant
Messenger Passport service or the all new Live-based community composed of the Office
Live, Windows Live and Xbox Live services.
The driving force behind Match.com is its long heritage of branding and extensive
collection of registered members. Match.com has integrated its services into major
portals including AOL and MSN to deliver a streamlined interface to multiple user
groups. The creation of new service offerings gives the Match.com family the ability to
rank first, second, third, and possibly even forth on search engine results for online dating
with Kiss.com, Match.com, AltMatch.com, and now Chemistry.com. The philosophy of
creating new value-added services also ensures that they will never be left behind as user
groups evolve, age, and differentiate themselves through different cultures and even
geographical location.
The IT Infrastructure21
At an average of 30 million page views per day, 104 web servers running Microsoft
Windows 2000 and Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5 web server were
constantly in use. At the time, the fourth version of Match.com's web application,
powered by Microsoft SQL Server 2000 databases, was written in Active Server Pages
(ASP) 3.0 using Microsoft Visual SourceSafe version control software. With this
configuration, the constantly active development efforts were held back by the
maintenance requirements of the existing applications and hardware. The need quickly
arose for a more robust development environment as well as an upgrade to the server
farm.
With an upgrade to the Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003 development platform
combined with the same version control software and database software the team was
accustomed with, development continued in the ASP.NET and C# languages at an
improved pace. 45 new web servers running IIS 6 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003
replaced the existing 104. The development cycle of new services was shortened and
server downtime was virtually eliminated. With increased efficiency on both the
development and server sides, costs associated with these departments decreased while
the value received from both increased.
The Match.com web application requires three layers of server architecture to power the
Match.com website and the email service which allows double-blind communication
between members as well as emails from the company to customers. The business layer
is composed of 45 web servers and four file servers, the presentation layer consists of 20
image servers, and a data layer includes a master write database, two keyword search
databases, and six read-only databases. This complex hardware structure is simplified
with ASP.NET web services, allowing integration with the systems of affiliates, partners,
and advertisers regardless of the other parties own architectures.
The next likely iteration of Match.com's Microsoft based development environment will
arrive in late 2005 with the releases of Visual Studio .NET 2005 and SQL Server 2005.
Migrating to the newest SQL Server, released five years after the previous version, is of
particular importance to Match.com's efforts in managing its rapidly enlarging inventory
of profiles and the data associated with them. This upgrade will provide Match.com with
dramatically improved query times, increased scalability, reliability and data integrity
benefits, as well as an expanding collection of data mining and reporting tools.
Furthermore, increased support for 64-bit architecture may be increasingly pertinent in
years to come.
Innovative Uses of Technology that Create Value-added Services
QuickSearch 22
In June 2001, the Match.com website was completely redesigned based on customer
feedback with the goal of improving navigation. Along with this redesign, QuickSearch
was implemented as a faster method of searching in comparison to the existing method.
QuickSearch allows a quick query based on gender, age range and location.
MatchMobile23
In February 2003 MatchMobile was launched on many of the larger wireless networks
such as: Alltel, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. Match Mobile was also
launched internationally. An estimated 42% of the subscribers to this service are between
the ages of 18 to 24, which is an age range Match.com had been hoping to expand in.
In September 2003, photo profiling was launched on the MatchMobile service. This
service enables subscribers to search and view profiles from their mobile devices. The
subscriber can also send and receive text-based messages as well as upload and transfer
profiles directly from their mobile devices. The service is further enhanced with
geographical based technology, which will give the user search results based on the
proximity of the profile matches. Powering these services is Enpockets’s Eden (Enpocket
dating Engine) platform.24 The service is provided as a value added convenience for the
customer. The monthly subscription for this service is $4.99.
Video-Enabled Instant Messaging Service 25
In April 2004, the video-enabled instant messaging service was launched. This allowed
Match.com users to view other subscribers live via a webcam, while sending and
receiving text-based messages to one another. Match.com teamed up with Logitech to
offer its Logitech QuickCam for those subscribers who wanted the Match.com video
service but did not have access to a webcam. The subscribers who purchased the product
received a three-month free membership to the Match.com video service. The monthly
subscription rate for this service is $4.95.
This value-added service enables subscribers to see any prospective date in real-time.
There is a sense of bonding that occurs when people are able to see the emotion, and
body language of the individual with whom they are communicating with. There is also a
heightened level of excitement that comes with the visual stimulation of a real-time video
feed. Match.com’s business strategy team recognized the potential benefits, and the web
development team made the idea become a reality.
Online Speed Matching Service 26
In May 2004, the Online SpeedMatching service was expanded to over 50 cities within
the United States. This allowed subscribers to simultaneously talk on the phone with one
another while viewing each other’s profiles and pictures. The business strategy team saw
this innovation as a means to speed up the personal interaction between subscribers.
Match.com subscribers would pay an additional monthly fee of $14.95, while non-
subscribers would pay $24.95 for unlimited contacts.
Member Spotlight 27
The implementation of Match.com's Member Spotlight feature marks the first example of
a desegregation of Match.com's separate databases. Member Spotlight allows the profiles
of selected members to be visible on Match.com's other sites for a period of two weeks.
This feature fulfills an important roll in transitioning new users into subscribing
customers. With the majority of user activity being within the first few days of
membership, it is important for this experience to be positive. Users who become paying
customers typically make the transition during this initial stage. With Member Spotlight,
selected new customers are exposed to the largest number of people Match.com is able to
expose them to at that time. This presents the highest probability of these customers
finding a reason to actually pull out their credit cards to contact someone, or for someone
to contact them. Features, like Member Spotlight, which aggregate the separate
databases, must be carefully balanced against the revenue Match.com receives from
members who have multiple subscriptions across two or more Match.com partner sites.
Opportunity for Improvement
Maintaining a quality database
Rather than focusing on the sheer size of their registered member database as being their
competitive advantage and core marketing message, Match.com should place greater
emphasis on registered members who are actually active. Match.com could implement
this by sending emails to users who have been inactive for over a year informing them
that their profiles will be automatically changed to hidden status unless they respond
indicating their desire to remain active. This will enable Match.com to better assess their
registered members and will facilitate better decision support strategies in addition to
reducing the rate of churn A stronger marketing position would be to boast the most
active community, rather than simply the largest.
Creating an interactive community
One of the largest criticisms about Match.com is the perception that it lacks community.
Match.com is in the business of bringing people together and to facilitate bonding; in
order for bonding to happen, there needs to be a sense of community and an element of
interactivity. However, the most non-subscribers can do to interact is to send “winks” to
each other. This kind of interactivity is not substantial enough for non-subscribers to feel
that they are establishing meaningful connections with other users, which thus negatively
hinders the conversion rate. This is important to pay attention to because conversion is
definitely a huge challenge for Match.com considering that it has over 15 million
registered members, but only 1 million are paying subscribers. There is something
missing about Match.com in that new users do not see it worthwhile to pay the
subscription fee. The lack of initial interactivity is that missing puzzle piece. Right now
the only way to be able to interact on Match.com is to pay the subscription fee, however
$30.00 may seem like a steep price to pay to contact someone whose profile and picture
is appealing, and on top of that there is also the risk that person may not respond.
However, if users paid smaller fee to use interactive services, the conversion rate would
increase. There are some solid services that Match.com could add to their business
model to create this kind of community and interactivity.
An invaluable service that would substantially differentiate Match.com from its
competitors would be to provide topical chat rooms. If the subscription fee was lower,
and people knew that by paying it they would be able to interact with other singles
seeking relationships in these chat rooms, there would be more incentive to subscribe.
The incentive would be found in users having the ability to initially interact in this non-
intimidating setting, providing them with a comfortable medium to establish a
connection. When users interact in chat rooms, they are able to quickly find out who this
person is behind their profile and determine if there is the chemistry that every single is
searching for. This feature can be complemented with personal messaging available from
within the chat room.
Reshaping the pricing model
Although Match.com allows profile creation without payment, the up-front fee for the
first opportunity to interact with other members is steep at $29.99 per month. The pricing
model currently acts as a gatekeeper, blocking users who are interested in the service but
not ready to commit a lot financially to a service they are only curious about. A lower
entry-level pricing option would help introduce users to the service, with the option of
paying additional fees for the extra functionality. Users will be more willing to try
Match.com’s services because it is not as heavy of a financial investment, and with the
addition of the aforementioned interactive features, Match.com will be able to help
people feel connected immediately, which will thus result in greater retention. With a
unique strategy such as this, profits will increase overall with lower margins compensated
by greater volume. Furthermore, Match.com can also shift slightly more to ad-based
revenue with this model.
Keep users visiting
Other opportunities for Match.com to improve also exist in extending user activity
beyond the time period following the initial profile creation. A critical shortcoming of
the service is that new users are not seen by existing users until these potential matches
log into their accounts or receive, and open, the messages from the optional search result
email service. Simply marking the users as "new", as Match.com currently does, results
in very little initial attention towards these new members during the crucial time period
that largely determines whether the user will ever become a subscriber. In addition to
new users, users who hide their profiles for a variety of reasons do not receive instant
awareness when they re-publicize their profiles.
An unfulfilled aspect of the Match.com service is the median point between usage of the
web site and sending the users emails that will be largely ignored or marked as spam by
filters. The ideal service would inform users of new potential matches in a non-imposing
fashion that would result in effortless visits to those profiles on the Match.com website.
The benefit of this behavior would be continuous activity on the Match.com website.
Existing users would produce more page views, meaning more advertisement revenue,
while also remaining active in their search, improving their chances of finding someone
they would like to contact.
A web technology that would allow this service behavior is RSS. The RSS acronym has
changed meaning with the latest version, from "Rich Site Summary" to "Really Simple
Syndication." The basic RSS idea originated from the Channel Definition Format used
for the Active Channel feature of Internet Explorer 4.0 in 1997. This first
implementation was only mildly successful, but the idea of displaying web content
without the user actively visiting a site or clicking on a link has regained popularity. The
most common usage of RSS today is news sites sending out an RSS "feed" of news
headlines to a user's RSS client program or web browser. If users view a headline that
interests them as they are involved with other activities, they can click on it and be taken
to the news site. Users visit these news sites more often as a result, viewing and clicking
on more advertisements in the process.28 The functionality also exists for users to start
and stop these feeds from within the interface of their client or web browser as their
computing tasks dictate.
The Match.com implementation would be to send users summaries of new profiles as
well as profiles returning to public view. Additional functionality could include
notifications of new messages, profile changes of potential matches, and headlines from
Match.com's online dating magazine Happen. Users, as they conduct their daily
computer use, will be passively notified of reasons to return to the Match.com web site,
and can do so with a single click to reach whatever content is mentioned by the RSS feed.
With the imminent release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0, the world’s most
widespread browser will include RSS support. Currently, other commonly used browsers
including Firefox, Opera, and Safari support the feature. With RSS already in use by
staple websites such as Amazon.com, users of the web are being introduced to an
improved format to effortlessly receive their news, weather, sports scores, stocks, and any
other content that can benefit from being dynamic and personalized.28 Match.com's
content is currently very personalized, but needs the dynamic aspect that RSS can
provide.
With these changes Match.com can improve the quality of their database, convert
more registered members into revenue generating subscribers, instill a sense of
community with a lessened intimidation factor and a higher level of interaction, and
finally reach their users through a new medium that will increase member activity at the
site. With these improvements, Match.com's position will strengthen in the industry as
the most robust provider of online dating services.
1
(Kremen.com website, About Gary Kremen).
2
(Another Match Made in Heaven, Beth Cox, December 19, 2002)
3
(Match.com website, Press Release, May 8, 2001)
4
(IAC/ InteractiveCorp web site, accessed 11/2005)
5
(Eddie Dombrower, Interview, November 4, 2005)
6
(Match.com website, Press Release, September 02, 2004)
7
(Online Dating Services Add Features, Bob Tedeschi, E-Commerce Report, August 11, 2003)
8
(Bryan Eisenburg,What’s the Average Converstion Rate, Clickz, June 4th 2004)
9
(MIVA website, press room)
10
(eharmony.com website, accessed 11/2005)
11
(Hoovers.com, Company Profiles accessed 11/2005)
12
(Yahoo!Personals website, accessed 11/2005)
13
(Friendster.com website, accessed 11/2005)
14
(Janis Mara, Reality TV Meets Online Yahoo! Personals Campaign, Nov. 7 2004, Click Z news)
15
(JDate.com website, accessed 11/2005)
16
(Match.com website, press release, May 05, 2005)
17
(Match.com website, press release, October 11, 2005)
18
(IAC/ InteractiveCorp website, udate.com, Press Release, August 3, 2004)
19
(Personals.com website, accessed 11/2005)
20
(Eddie Dombrower, Interview, November 4, 2005)
21
(15 seconds: case study Match.com, Steven Kapsinow, Feb 2, 2004)
22
(Match.com website, press release, June 19, 2001)
23
(IAC/ InteractiveCorp web site, Press release, February10, 2003)
24
(Enpocket website, accessed 11/2005)
25
(Match.com website, press release, April 26, 2004)
26
(Match.com website, press release, May 18, 2004)
27
(Match.com website, accessed 11/2005)
28
(rss.marketingstudies.net website, accessed 11/2005)